You know what? It’s doable for the Islanders to overcome what is now an eight-point deficit to the Rangers in the standings following their 5-3 triumph on the Snowy White Way of Broadway on Tuesday night in a match they deserved to win, no ifs ands or buts about it.

But in order to make that leap, they’re probably going to have to win their two remaining head-to-head matches, and both in regulation time.

Which means they’ll have to beat the Blueshirts twice within three days next week, first on Wednesday at the outdoor pond in The Bronx and then next Friday back at the Garden.

Because as far as New York, New York is concerned, that’s all she wrote. No confrontations down the stretch. None following the Olympic recess. None at all after these three matches within 11 January nights.

Leave it to the NHL to program a crescendo to the schedule for the dead of winter with more than two months remaining in the season.

No more Rangers-Islanders. No more Islanders-Flyers games after their season series, reduced to four games this year under the NHL’s newly adopted schedule matrix that will remain in force for at least two more seasons, concluded on Monday afternoon.

Only one more Rangers-Devils match following Sunday’s Battle of the Hudson at Yankee Stadium. No Rangers-Penguins games following the Olympic recess. No Islanders-Penguins games after the clubs wrap up their business for 2013-14 on Thursday night at the Coliseum.

Just when the league should be filled with head-to-head confrontations, and ideally of the four-point variety that were a staple until the NHL went to the “nobody loses!” tee-ball philosophy that features the loser’s point for staying even through 60 minutes, the schedule will be dominated with East versus West matchups that will minimize the impact of every game.

Perhaps the Rangers should be thankful for the vagaries of the schedule following a night on which they were buried under a blizzard of mistakes. Even when up 2-0 by the 11:07 mark of the first on two more Rick Nash goals and then 3-1 midway through the second, the Blueshirts’ grip was as shaky as a vehicle’s tires trying to navigate the West Side Highway during rush hour.

The Rangers kept putting the puck in treacherous places. Finally, the Islanders, led by the indomitable, brilliant John Tavares and linemates Kyle Okposo and Thomas Vanek, seized control. It was only 5-3, including an empty-netter, but it wasn’t that close anywhere except on the scoreboard.

And by the way, when the Blueshirts had pulled Cam Talbot and gained a faceoff in the offensive zone with 20.2 seconds remaining, Ryan Callahan — whose last shift had ended with 2:07 to go — didn’t get onto the ice. Pretty interesting.

These Rangers-Islanders matchups are main events, and if not all of the time for all of the players, then most certainly so for the teams’ fan bases.

The NHL is a wannabe NFL. Their owners for the most part have football envy, and honestly, why wouldn’t they? But the NFL skews its schedule to produce as many intra-divisional showdowns as possible the final weekend or two of the season.

Major league baseball may have diluted its schedule by realigning into two 15-team leagues that necessitates an inter-league matchup every day of the season, but league executives weren’t foolish enough to reduce the number of Yankees-Red Sox games. There will be 19 this season just as there were 10 years ago.

But the NHL, nope. The league that always skews to the lowest common denominator just had to find a way to get Sidney Crosby’s team into every building at least once a year, even at the expense of historical rivalries.

Late-season matchups should ideally feature a succession of intra-division contests. But the Rangers play only four of their final 16 games within the Metropolitan while playing eight against the West and the Islanders play five of their final 19 within the division, one fewer than they will play against teams from the West.

So fans should enjoy these three games in 11 nights. The NHL, you see, has made January into the new March and April.

Should the NHL save division matchups for the end of the season?

you mean USA OLYMPIAN Ryan Callahan wasn't on the ice in crunch time? The guy that took Kyle Okposo's spot on the USA team? IF the guy isnt good enough to be on the ice in a dire time then he has no business being on the USA team.

Callahan not on the ice at the end? Not on the power play? He's one of the best players in the league around the net. Pouliot instead? Really? Not many complaints about AV but he is messing this one up.